Spring is Here and you’re ready to hatch some chicks! So you bought hatching eggs, now what? Ah, that age-old question of what to do! I know the season is just getting started and I wish there was an instruction manual on all of this! The anxiety and anticipation of getting it all right with a 100% risky situation can be quite daunting on a newbie or even a novice! Hopefully, I can enlighten even the most OCD new-to-incubating individual that doesn’t want their investment to go to waste.

What came first? The Chicken or the Egg?

Well in this case, we hope it was your incubator! There are SO MANY MODELS out there now that it’s merely impossible to comparison shop! When searching for an incubator, keep in mind what your goals are and your capacity. don’t forget that you get what you pay for! I learned that the hard way too and man, it hurt!

It is almost always ideal to have your incubator purchased, tested and ready to go before your hatching eggs arrive. You don’t want to be caught with faulty equipment bought off Amazon with delicate hatching eggs in hand. That is the worse possible situation to be in. Why? Because you have some very special eggs that you purchased to incubate and it’s never a good thing to ever let them sit and wait for your incubator to show up, get tested and ready. To help avoid the chaos, needless stress on yourself and aging of your highly-anticipated hatching eggs, you’ll want to have your incubator, ensure that you’ve tested it and that it works long before you order your eggs. I’ve seen it so many times where someone orders eggs and their incubator shows up the day before, same day or day after they receive their hatching eggs. Unfortunately, that time frame is not enough of a window to properly set up and/or troubleshoot your new equipment. Take the time to look up a good incubator and make the time to give it a test run after you purchase it. After all, it will be baking the most precious little eggs for you and trying it’s best to get you some fluffy balls of chicks!

Soooo what’s in those eggs?

Now that we’ve gotten past the Incubator, let’s talk about what you’re hatching. When selecting a breed, it’s so important to know the reason that you’re wanting to hatch these eggs. Are you looking for layers? Dual Purpose? Temperament? Are you planning on showing? You’ll want to nail down what you want and why you want it. it will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. You don’t want to end up with a breed you don’t like due to unaligned expectations. Please also understand that you are bound to get a rooster. Maybe you’ll get lucky and not have many but you will almost always get one! It’s always a best practice to know what you’re about to incubate and possibly hatch is what you are looking for even if that means it’s a rooster!

How Do I Start Incubating?

So we’ve got your breed down and your eggs are ordered. First things first! Get your incubator ready before your eggs arrive. Ensure that you have tested it and the parameters are ideal for what you’ll be incubating. For us, our temp is 100°F and 35% RH. When your eggs arrive, carefully remove them from the packaging material, candle them to check for damage then sit them upright in a fitting egg flat or a carton that is snug so they do not rock. I always toss any cracked or darkened eggs simply because i’d rather avoid any future mishaps that may affect any of the intact eggs that are left. Depending on your local weather, allow them to sit for a few hours and come to room temp. Once they have reached an ideal temperature, you can load them. We always suggest loading right side up with the air cell on top and do not turn them. When i incubated shipped eggs previously, I had success with candling at the end of the day, for the first three days to check for healed air cells. I usually move those to the turner if I see that they aren’t wobbling. There are some that will never heal and have been scrambled during transport. I usually toss those on day 7 if there hasn’t been any development. This is pretty typical with shipped eggs. You will have some that don’t make it so just mentally prepare for that. Now that your eggs are loaded, it’s time to play the waiting game!

Just remember, hatching is fun! Don’t over think it and do what works for you. Thanks for Reading and Good luck On All of Your Hatches!!!